[81alum]

Thanks for the link.  A very lively read, written with a dark sense of humor.  I was left wondering whether his experience was typical or whether he was more injury-prone than most in football.

We encountered these issues as a family when my daughter was an up-and-coming national caliber gymnast, from ages 4-14.  I am still very proud of her accomplishments, but we mutually agreed to her decision to quit after a landing pulled her achilles off of the growth plates in her heel.  Fortunately the growth plates were not permanently damaged--but if they had been she would have grown unevenly.  We reasoned that everyone quits gymnastics eventually--it is not a lifetime activity--and it would be best to quit before she did permanent damage to her body.  Given her talent it was a wrenching decision--it wasn't until last year that she could pack up all the boxes of medals and ribbons and trophies--but it was the right decision.  She now has a bright future and two legs of equal length.

I know how easy it is to gradually slide deeper and narrowly into the world of these decisions and to lose sight of someone's long term interests--when the prospects of short term glory are within reach.  The professional football player in the article captures this feeling very well--each medical decision seemed reasonable at the time--but there seemed to be little opportunity to step back and really see the "big picture" and draw the conclusion that the entire way of life is simply insane.  Not even when he was sneaking HGH across the border from Mexico...in fact, he never really did make the decision to stop--his body did it for him.  This kind of behavior is remarkably similar to nearly all addictive behaviors, whether it is the alcoholic who will not stop until after hitting bottom, or the drug addict who will not stop until he turns up in the emergency room, or the gambler who will not stop until he is bankrupt.

And so I am often conflicted about my love of athletics.  So many of our games are beautiful human achievements--ranking I would say with all the great works of art and literature of our culture, although they are not often seen that way.  But the fact that many of them depend on a level of human misery is deeply troubling. 

[81alum]

Thanks for the link.  A very lively read, written with a dark sense of humor.  I was left wondering whether his experience was typical or whether he was more injury-prone than most in football.

We encountered these issues as a family when my daughter was an up-and-coming national caliber gymnast, from ages 4-14.  I am still very proud of her accomplishments, but we mutually agreed to her decision to quit after a landing pulled her achilles off of the growth plates in her heel.  Fortunately the growth plates were not permanently damaged--but if they had been she would have grown unevenly.  We reasoned that everyone quits gymnastics eventually--it is not a lifetime activity--and it would be best to quit before she did permanent damage to her body.  Given her talent it was a wrenching decision--it wasn't until last year that she could pack up all the boxes of medals and ribbons and trophies--but it was the right decision.  She now has a bright future and two legs of equal length.

I know how easy it is to gradually slide deeper and narrowly into the world of these decisions and to lose sight of someone's long term interests--when the prospects of short term glory are within reach.  The professional football player in the article captures this feeling very well--each medical decision seemed reasonable at the time--but there seemed to be little opportunity to step back and really see the "big picture" and draw the conclusion that the entire way of life is simply insane.  Not even when he was sneaking HGH across the border from Mexico...in fact, he never really did make the decision to stop--his body did it for him.  This kind of behavior is remarkably similar to nearly all addictive behaviors, whether it is the alcoholic who will not stop until after hitting bottom, or the drug addict who will not stop until he turns up in the emergency room, or the gambler who will not stop until he is bankrupt.

And so I am often conflicted about my love of athletics.  So many of our games are beautiful human achievements--ranking I would say with all the great works of art and literature of our culture, although they are not often seen that way.  But the fact that many of them depend on a level of human misery is deeply troubling.